How an unemployed Black Country salesman almost became UKIP leader only to be undone by an opened pack of Viagra
The Black Country Brexiteer who went from being unemployed to being on the verge of leading UKIP – only for his challenge to be scuppered by an opened pack of Viagra – has penned his autobiography.
Bill Etheridge's rollercoaster ride from the dole queue to grandstanding in the European Parliament as a MEP in just a few short years, before helping the Vote Leave campaign to an unexpected seismic referendum win, is all covered in A Rhino Through The Looking Glass.
The funny, rollicking read also covers Bill's childhood in Wolverhampton and the rock-roll style excess of the region's steel industry's glory days, but also captures a period in UK history which will only become more important as the long-term consequences of Brexit become clear.
Bill, now 54, has also packed his book full of funny anecdotes about the era's most famous political names, including Nigel Farage and European Union top brass, who though his ideological opposite, he writes warmly about.
Bill told the Express & Star: "I've really enjoyed writing the book and getting my story down on paper. People who have read it have told me it has really made them laugh, which is wonderful.
"The book is not all about politics, I really enjoyed writing about growing up in Parkfields and what it was like in the 1970s and 1980s. And I worked in the steel industry for years as a salesman and then was part of management.
"Those were incredible days to be part of and there are plenty of wild stories about what we got up to after work. There was a lot of sex and booze."
After the steel industry collapsed in the early 2010s Bill found himself out of work, often helping out at the business of his friend Dean Perks, who would also go on to be elected as a councillor for UKIP.
His first taste of politics was with the Conservative Party after volunteering for them in 2011, however, his time with the Tories did not end well.
